French billboards to advertise directly to passing cell phones

French billboards will soon start sending personalized ad messages to the …

French-based (but multinational) advertising delivery experts JCDecaux is about to unleash an interesting advertising scheme based on sending highly targeted ads to your cellphone as you walk by a billboard or a bus stop. An initial trial will happen in France first, with plans already in place to expand the reach considerably. The idea has some potential, and something like this may soon be inevitable, but there are a few problems with it too, such as invasion of privacy.

How it works

Early experiments with JCDecaux' technology have involved finding a strategically placed ad transmitter box (about the size of a shoebox, and easily placed inside billboards or those advertising panels you see at bus stops), keying in an access code on the front panel, and then getting some sort of marketing message sent to your cell phone. When the real service rolls out, anyone who wishes to participate needs to register through a webpage, set up a profile of likes, dislikes, and what kind of advertising they want to see, and link that to their mobile phone number. It's an opt-in scheme, not opt-out—so if you don't want it, don't know about it, or just don't care, your phone won't receive any of these messages.

"We will, of course, need to be careful in making certain that users get only advertisements that interest them," says Albert Asseraf, director of strategy, research and marketing at JCDecaux. "With this project, we are really starting to create the personalized digital city. We eventually will see a rich dialogue running between mobile phones and what are now uncommunicative objects."

If it sounds like Asseraf wants to move beyond marketing at some point, you're probably right. The project was started as a way to help the blind hail a cab, and one idea for future use involves signs that change their display language as people's phones notify the system that a group of Germans, Chinese, or Greeks are nearby. Those who don't belong to the new majority group get text messages instead, sent to their phones in their preferred language. Neat-o. Technology clearly can be used for other things besides evil.

The downsides

Of course, some observers see trouble ahead. If this sort of model becomes widespread—something Asseraf "hopes and wishes" will happen across Europe by mid-2007—you could end up hardly daring to move because of the avalance of advertising you're sure to receive just walking across Trafalgar Square or Sergels Torg. But the management team seems to understand the importance of keeping a lid on the growth of this thing:

"It is extremely powerful to get into somebody's pocket, but you also take the risk of annoying them," says Asseraf. "If we abuse this system, it simply will not work, and people will turn off the function. It is a question of personal liberty that people should decide what they receive on their mobile phone." It is critical to the system, he added, that users can adjust the settings on their mobile phones at any time.

Asseraf also points out that you need to actively sign up and consent to participation before anything will happen to you, or for you. The marketing incentives that could be sent to your phone, should you choose to accept them, could include free ringtones, hot music or video clips, or virtual coupons to use in nearby stores. Your phone will need to be Bluetooth- or WiFi-enabled to communicate with the transmitter boxes for now, though there's no technical reason why other technologies like WAP or WiMax couldn't be used as well, with just a dash of GPS added. Other large advertising companies will surely keep a close watch on this project.